Dylan Ferraro, Mike Manente, Waffles Sowinski, Kyle Schneider
Notes on Fat Land: How Americans Became the Fattest People In The World
Introduction - ‘ A physiologist from the University of Colorado Health Sciences center named James O. Hill, stated that, “ somewhere around 25 percent of the population would be always overweight.” But then in the 80’s that rate started to go up unexpected to 30, 35, 40 percent. This started to freak a lot of the doctors or physiologists out. The equation thrown out now is, “ What has changed in the environment to allow the inclination toward overweight and obesity itself? What changed around us to allow us to get so big?” - “Today, Americans are the fattest people on the face of the earth” - ‘About 61 percent of Americans are overweight and about 20 percent of us are obese’ - ‘ All US surgeons are trying to declare a national epidemic’ ‘ This is mostly because the number of overweight children has increased to about 25 percent, a surgeon syays that has doubled in the past 30 years.’
Story From Intro
-A man, 450 pounds in the ICU of the Los Angeles County Medical Center. Had to get an emergency gastroplastry repair, it was not good. They had to keep stapling his stomach and the wife says it is the second time in three months. ‘ Not all forms of gastroplasty involve stapling, as did other forms of obesity surgery, but many still refer to it that way! Her husband was dying from his own fat.
Chapter 1- Where the calories come from?
-The Americans started to hold riots and protest against the soaring prices of such basic items as hamburgers, cheese, and sugar.
-The farmers were getting hurt by bad weather and this was a chain that ended with the conclusion of there not being enough food or at least not enough food to keep prices stable.
-Earl Butz, secretary of agriculture, wanted to help the farmers first and did so by making the export sales more broad to a different like the Soviet Union. This gave flexibility to the farmer about prices. By the mid- 1970’s corn production soared to an all-time high. So did farm income.
-HFCS= High Fructose Corn Syrup
-In 1971, food scientists found a way to economically produce a cheaper sweetener. It was 6 times sweeter than cane sugar. It can be made from corn.
-The USDA only cared about the economies at this point not if the sugar contained the fructose needed.
-The prices of everything (especially food) were very high, even TV dinners people complained were pricey.
-Gerald Ford the new president wants Earl Butz to get all of the food prices to go down so the people would buy more.
-A Texas Congressman named William Poage said the palm oil that has been used for years as a commercial fat is now rat oil and needs to be replaced.
-So they sold all the palm oil on April 23, 1976 to Malaysia because they needed to enhance trade with them to remain a strong ally.
-HFCS started to get through big industry such as Coke and Pepsi who switched from 50-50 blend of sugar and CS to 100 percent HFCS. It saved both companies 20 percent insweetener costs, allowing them to boost portion sizes and still make substantial profits.
-Fast foods portions started to get bigger and fries were getting tastier and tastier and cheaper and cheaper.
-“In short, Butz delivered everything the modern American consumer had wanted. A new plenitude of cheap, abundant, and tasty calories had arrived. It was time to eat.
-Earl Butz was elected as The Secretary of the Department of Agriculture by president Richard Nixon in 1971.
-By the end of the century, supersizing - the ultimate expression of the value meal revolution – reigned.
- By 1996 25% of 97 billion dollars spent on fast food came in larger foods.
- All restaurants were beginning to super size.
- One serving of Mcdonalds French fries went from 200 calories in 1960 to 320 calories, in late 1970, then up to 450 calories in the 1990’s, to 540 calories in the late 1990’s and then up to 610 calories in 2003.
- From 1977 to 1987 the percent of meals away from home went from 16 to 25.
- Food on the run was becoming more popular.
- When they ate out it was a treat so it was even larger portions.
- People were now getting into snacks. It was seen as normal to eat all day long and more brands of snacks began to come out.
- From 1977 to 1996 the snacking rate per day went from 67% to 82%.
Chapter 2- Who got the calories into our bellies? Pg 20-29
-In the 1970’s all of the food prices and drink prices were higher than ever than Earl Butz got all of the prices down but the fast food people didn’t sell more. So a Birmingham franchise, Max Cooper who helped created the Ronald McDonald and bought a couple of franchises in Birmingham. He also thought of a brilliant idea, “ We realized we could do that by taking the high-profit drink and fry and then packaging it with the low-profit burger. We realized that if you get them to buy 3 items for what they perceived was less, you could increase the # of walk-ins sales would follow.”
-Taco Bell, McDonald’s, and many more follow Value Meals. These meals give bigger portions for people perceive is less in price. McDonald’s was the last huge organization to insert Value Meals and what made them do it was people were saying, “ It was cheaper to go to Chili’s and buy a burger and fries than go to McDonald’s. This ticked off the David Wallerstein’s McDonald’s Corporation.
-The motto more for less really pulled people in and the fast food people loved it because they were making the same or even more money by giving more for less, like 4 tacos instead of 3.
chapter 3( Don't Really Need) Dylan Ferraro chapter 3
- In recent years, big sizes has become an increasingly necessary part of any clothing company's survival strategy. large sizes account for a growing segment
Chapter 4- Why the Calories Stayed on Our Bodies
-In 1917 California became one of only a handful of states to require daily physical fitness.
-But by 1978 all schools were required to have a physical education class, this helped a lot but also cost a good amount.
-They were required to have it but it was not a mandatory class to take. By 1980 PE classes had doubled but the percent of seniors taking PE dipped down to 43 percent.
-Enrollment in sports teams dropped in 88 percent of schools, and almost half of those schools eliminated one team entirely.
-In high school at that time students only had to take 2 years of PE to pass. (NOT GOOD AT ALL)
-The question that was tossed around at this time was, "Fitness wasn't an important task for schools to perform anyway, was it?" School had other priorities.
-The "Nation At Risk" a general sentiment in a 1983 report said that the study of American children in science and math had decreased heavily and now America has dropped back behind Japan in job creation and productivity growth.
-The new law that was passed Proposition 13 which was a a way to get more fitness around the nation took out 6.8 billion dollars from state budgets and this later effected the schools and many businesses.
-What also spurred was the AYSO (American Youth Soccer Organization) this helped kids get more active.
-Private Gyms were becoming a big hit too during this time, but still the numbers of people who should be exercising are not where they should be.
-People were also wasting money on organizations that were not going to work out
-For example the AAHPERD (American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance) The name didn't really sound intriguing either.
(through page 69)
Chapter 5- What Fat Is, What Fat Isn't
-Type 2 diabetes was coming more and more common in the inner city.
Chapter 6- What the Extra Calories Do to You
The Latino immigration surge of the mid-1980s was coming of economic age; in many large cities, from Los Angeles to New York to Chicago, they were displacing order urban populations and bringing with them new consumer demands. Almost immediately, every major fast-food company started a Spanish-language campaign.
The current obesity rate for Mexican American children between the ages of five and eleven, 27.4 percent of Mexican girls are obese, as are 23 percent of boys. By fourth grade the rate of girls peaks at 32.4 percent. By fifth grade boys top out at 43.4 percent.
Notes on Fat Land: How Americans Became the Fattest People In The World
Introduction
- ‘ A physiologist from the University of Colorado Health Sciences center named James O. Hill, stated that, “ somewhere around 25 percent of the population would be always overweight.” But then in the 80’s that rate started to go up unexpected to 30, 35, 40 percent. This started to freak a lot of the doctors or physiologists out. The equation thrown out now is, “ What has changed in the environment to allow the inclination toward overweight and obesity itself? What changed around us to allow us to get so big?”
- “Today, Americans are the fattest people on the face of the earth”
- ‘About 61 percent of Americans are overweight and about 20 percent of us are obese’
- ‘ All US surgeons are trying to declare a national epidemic’ ‘ This is mostly because the number of overweight children has increased to about 25 percent, a surgeon syays that has doubled in the past 30 years.’
Story From Intro
-A man, 450 pounds in the ICU of the Los Angeles County Medical Center. Had to get an emergency gastroplastry repair, it was not good. They had to keep stapling his stomach and the wife says it is the second time in three months. ‘ Not all forms of gastroplasty involve stapling, as did other forms of obesity surgery, but many still refer to it that way! Her husband was dying from his own fat.
Chapter 1- Where the calories come from?
-The Americans started to hold riots and protest against the soaring prices of such basic items as hamburgers, cheese, and sugar.
-The farmers were getting hurt by bad weather and this was a chain that ended with the conclusion of there not being enough food or at least not enough food to keep prices stable.
-Earl Butz, secretary of agriculture, wanted to help the farmers first and did so by making the export sales more broad to a different like the Soviet Union. This gave flexibility to the farmer about prices. By the mid- 1970’s corn production soared to an all-time high. So did farm income.
-HFCS= High Fructose Corn Syrup
-In 1971, food scientists found a way to economically produce a cheaper sweetener. It was 6 times sweeter than cane sugar. It can be made from corn.
-The USDA only cared about the economies at this point not if the sugar contained the fructose needed.
-The prices of everything (especially food) were very high, even TV dinners people complained were pricey.
-Gerald Ford the new president wants Earl Butz to get all of the food prices to go down so the people would buy more.
-A Texas Congressman named William Poage said the palm oil that has been used for years as a commercial fat is now rat oil and needs to be replaced.
-So they sold all the palm oil on April 23, 1976 to Malaysia because they needed to enhance trade with them to remain a strong ally.
-HFCS started to get through big industry such as Coke and Pepsi who switched from 50-50 blend of sugar and CS to 100 percent HFCS. It saved both companies 20 percent insweetener costs, allowing them to boost portion sizes and still make substantial profits.
-Fast foods portions started to get bigger and fries were getting tastier and tastier and cheaper and cheaper.
-“In short, Butz delivered everything the modern American consumer had wanted. A new plenitude of cheap, abundant, and tasty calories had arrived. It was time to eat.
-Earl Butz was elected as The Secretary of the Department of Agriculture by president Richard Nixon in 1971.
-By the end of the century, supersizing - the ultimate expression of the value meal revolution – reigned.
- By 1996 25% of 97 billion dollars spent on fast food came in larger foods.
- All restaurants were beginning to super size.
- One serving of Mcdonalds French fries went from 200 calories in 1960 to 320 calories, in late 1970, then up to 450 calories in the 1990’s, to 540 calories in the late 1990’s and then up to 610 calories in 2003.
- From 1977 to 1987 the percent of meals away from home went from 16 to 25.
- Food on the run was becoming more popular.
- When they ate out it was a treat so it was even larger portions.
- People were now getting into snacks. It was seen as normal to eat all day long and more brands of snacks began to come out.
- From 1977 to 1996 the snacking rate per day went from 67% to 82%.
Chapter 2- Who got the calories into our bellies? Pg 20-29
-In the 1970’s all of the food prices and drink prices were higher than ever than Earl Butz got all of the prices down but the fast food people didn’t sell more. So a Birmingham franchise, Max Cooper who helped created the Ronald McDonald and bought a couple of franchises in Birmingham. He also thought of a brilliant idea, “ We realized we could do that by taking the high-profit drink and fry and then packaging it with the low-profit burger. We realized that if you get them to buy 3 items for what they perceived was less, you could increase the # of walk-ins sales would follow.”
-Taco Bell, McDonald’s, and many more follow Value Meals. These meals give bigger portions for people perceive is less in price. McDonald’s was the last huge organization to insert Value Meals and what made them do it was people were saying, “ It was cheaper to go to Chili’s and buy a burger and fries than go to McDonald’s. This ticked off the David Wallerstein’s McDonald’s Corporation.
-The motto more for less really pulled people in and the fast food people loved it because they were making the same or even more money by giving more for less, like 4 tacos instead of 3.
chapter 3( Don't Really Need)
Dylan Ferraro chapter 3
- In recent years, big sizes has become an increasingly necessary part of any clothing company's survival strategy. large sizes account for a growing segment
Chapter 4- Why the Calories Stayed on Our Bodies
-In 1917 California became one of only a handful of states to require daily physical fitness.
-But by 1978 all schools were required to have a physical education class, this helped a lot but also cost a good amount.
-They were required to have it but it was not a mandatory class to take. By 1980 PE classes had doubled but the percent of seniors taking PE dipped down to 43 percent.
-Enrollment in sports teams dropped in 88 percent of schools, and almost half of those schools eliminated one team entirely.
-In high school at that time students only had to take 2 years of PE to pass. (NOT GOOD AT ALL)
-The question that was tossed around at this time was, "Fitness wasn't an important task for schools to perform anyway, was it?" School had other priorities.
-The "Nation At Risk" a general sentiment in a 1983 report said that the study of American children in science and math had decreased heavily and now America has dropped back behind Japan in job creation and productivity growth.
-The new law that was passed Proposition 13 which was a a way to get more fitness around the nation took out 6.8 billion dollars from state budgets and this later effected the schools and many businesses.
-What also spurred was the AYSO (American Youth Soccer Organization) this helped kids get more active.
-Private Gyms were becoming a big hit too during this time, but still the numbers of people who should be exercising are not where they should be.
-People were also wasting money on organizations that were not going to work out
-For example the AAHPERD (American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance) The name didn't really sound intriguing either.
(through page 69)
Chapter 5- What Fat Is, What Fat Isn't
-Type 2 diabetes was coming more and more common in the inner city.
Chapter 6- What the Extra Calories Do to You
The Latino immigration surge of the mid-1980s was coming of economic age; in many large cities, from Los Angeles to New York to Chicago, they were displacing order urban populations and bringing with them new consumer demands. Almost immediately, every major fast-food company started a Spanish-language campaign.
The current obesity rate for Mexican American children between the ages of five and eleven, 27.4 percent of Mexican girls are obese, as are 23 percent of boys. By fourth grade the rate of girls peaks at 32.4 percent. By fifth grade boys top out at 43.4 percent.
Chapter 7- What Can Be Done